Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

composed his Third Symphony in 1971. It is scored for

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

and was dedicated to

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

Composition

After composing his

Credo In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the portion of the Mass where a creed is recited or sung. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed or the Apostles' Creed are the primary creeds used for this purpose. History After the ...

in 1968, he embarked on a transitional period where he stopped composing. The reason for this creative hiatus was Pärt's realization that his musical compositional method had been fully developed. The only major piece he decided to work on was the third symphony, which came about right before the creation of his unique ''tintinnabular'' style. During the years between 1968 and the creation of both

Fratres ' (meaning "brothers" in Latin) is a musical work by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt exemplifying his tintinnabuli style of composition. It is three-part music, written in 1977, ''without fixed instrumentation'' and has been described as a "me ...

and

Tabula Rasa ''Tabula rasa'' (; Latin for "blank slate") is the idea of individuals being born empty of any built-in mental content, so that all knowledge comes from later perceptions or sensory experiences. Proponents typically form the extreme "nurture" ...

, Pärt delved into

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

, early polyphonic music and polyphony from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period, from which he found much inspiration for this symphony. By doing this, he rejected the serialist musical style he pioneered and advocated in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and turned to a much denser, minimalistic musical language. Pärt finally completed the symphony in 1971 and premiered it at the Estonia Concert Hall in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

on 21 September 1972, with the dedicatee, Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi, conducting the

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra ( ''(ERSO)'') (formerly known as the Symphony Orchestra of the Estonian Radio Committee, Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Estonian SSR State Symphony Orchestra) is a symphony orchestra based in Talli ...

. Pärt described this symphony later as a "joyous work" and stated that it was not "the end of my despair and search".

Structure

The symphony is divided into three untitled movements, played without pause. The total duration of the symphony is approximately 21 minutes. The movement list is as follows: * 1. (♩ = 66) * 2. (𝅗𝅥 = 54–56) * 3. (𝅗𝅥 = 60) The symphony is scored for a symphony orchestra consisting of two flutes, one piccolo, three oboes, three clarinets in B-flat, one bass clarinet in B-flat, two bassoons, one contrabassoon, four horns in F, four trumpets in B-flat, four trombones, one tuba, timpani, one celesta, bells, one marimba, tam-tam and a full string section. This symphony clearly displays the composer's preoccupation with

monody In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melody, melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italy, ...

and early polyphony, which is characteristic of this transitional period, but was different from his earlier periods. He uses harmonic and melodic material that attempts to resemble choir music from the 14th and 15th century, even though no quotations are used anywhere in the piece. The symphony starts with a slow melody played by both oboes and clarinets and swiftly modulates to G-sharp minor. The first movement, consisting of 142 bars, is the shortest in the symphony, which is meant to be played slowly and attacca. The second movement starts with a different melody played by a bassoon and the cellos and, after reaching a climax which is followed by a transitional section, has a solo section by the timpani which are supposed to speed up timpani beats to end with a tremolo, which leads to the third movement. The second movement has 147 bars in total. Finally, the ''alla breve'' third movement puts an end to the symphony. This is the longest movement in the symphony, consisting of 275 bars.

Notable recordings

The following is a list of notable performances of this composition:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symphony No. 3 (Pärt) Symphonies by Arvo Pärt Music dedicated to ensembles or performers 1971 compositions Pärt